Stories and happenings in the life of a flight attendant written after my book.
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All photos by Penguin Scott unless noted.

Friday, December 11, 2015

My Favorite Things: Ferrying a Flight

Takeoff from San Francisco International

Since my days in
training I've heard the stories; zooming down the aisles on serving
trays or standing at the back wall of the plane during take off,
kicking back and watching movies in first class seats; singing songs
over the PA system; party in the back, sleeping up front. The reasons
vary for the need; mechanical issues, aircraft positioning,
apparently it once happened after someone relieved themselves in the
aisle – toxic land mine! It's always been a dream of mine, and in
15 years, I've only had one incident of doing it... ferrying a
flight.

A ferried flight is
one in which there are no passengers; only crew. Often, aircraft are
ferried with only pilots, but occasionally, flight attendants are
also needed to accompany a ferried aircraft. I think all flight crew
enjoy the chance to ferry a flight.

Many years ago a
pilot told me a story about ferrying a flight. There were no other
crew members other than the two pilots. There were carts installed in
the galleys, but they were empty. During the flight, the pilots got a
hankering for a hot cup of joe. The first officer went hunting but
couldn't find any coffee.

Upon entering the
lav, he did find a pack, hanging on the hook. He decided to make a go
of it and brewed a cup of coffee. Some flight attendants will hang a
coffee pack in a lav that has particularly bad odor issues. He told
me that once he tasted it, he realized how effective they were in
doing so. He told me, “Every scent that was in that lavatory was
now in that cup of coffee! I nearly lost my lunch!”

The morning I got
the call that I was on a crew to ferry a flight, you'd have thought I
won the lottery! I was a bit crest-fallen when learning that the
flight was only from San Francisco to San Jose, which is only an hour
drive...in traffic.

I showed up at the
gate and met the rest of the crew. It was neat being able to board
and just leave when we were ready; no passengers to board. We were to
pick up our passengers in San Jose and then work to Denver. I was
clearly the most excited of the five of us.

We completed our
safety checks and briefed with the captain. He reminded us that we
still had to arm the doors and then he said the magic words, “If
anyone would like ride in the cockpit jumpseat, we'll only have one
available, just let us know. The others had no interest, but I was
like a boy being told I could open Christmas presents two whole weeks
before Christmas!

Beautiful Day in SF

After arming my
door, I took my seat in the cockpit and strapped in. The captain had
also said he'd leave the door open so the others, who were seated in
the first class seats, could have a view. I'd been able to take off
and land in the cockpit during training, but if you've been reading
my stories, you know how much I love aviation, and being in the
cockpit is the best!

It was a beautiful
day in the Bay Area. We taxied and took off and as the plane's nose
arched upward, the cockpit door slammed shut. Unable to reach it, it
remained closed until we were safely in the air, at which time the
others offered their complaints of not being able to see the takeoff.

The sad thing about
the short distance of our ferry flight was that we only reached an
altitude of about 8,000 feet, but the aerial tour going down the
coast was fantastic. The Pacific Ocean was on my right and the bay on
my left, with the hills, the highway, Stanford University and Moffett
Field, once the home of huge blimps and an airfield that still (at
that time) housed their huge hangars.

In no time at all we
were landing from the south at San Jose, and after taxiing to the
gate, there was no wait for the passengers to board; scheduled
departure had come and gone and we were coming to the rescue. It was
sort of awkward going from such a fantastic experience to suddenly
having to work!

High above San Francisco

I've not given up
hope for the opportunity to ferry a flight longer than half an hour.
A whole aircraft with nothing but crew, access to movies, cooking
your own meal at your leisure, hanging out in the cockpit...ferrying
a flight...it's my favorite!